Congratulations to our Featured Client, Peter Obourn, author of essays, short stories, poems, and books! He has a particular talent for conveying the emotional impact of seemingly small events. And when he combines that with his writing style—crisp, clear narration, vivid descriptions, and natural dialogue—editors are eager to publish his work. Since joining Writer’s Relief in 2006, Peter Obourn has received 24 acceptances and acquired an impressive acceptance rate more than twice that of the average submitter. Read on to learn more about Peter Obourn and where you can find his work. Click here to watch his video.

In Peter Obourn’s Own Words

Recently I have been obsessed with the problem of narration. I go back and forth between first- and third-person and struggle mightily with how much exposition and backstory should come from straight narration, how much should come from action and dialogue, and how much is left to the reader. It is a delicate balance.

Sometimes I will write the same paragraph ten times from different points of view, using dialogue or straight narration; sometimes it takes a whole day to rewrite a page.

I love the process of writing and rewriting, and I hate the process of trying to get my work published. However, I learned that publication is necessary, in fact essential, to the creative writing process since there is a partnership between the reader and the writer where the reader plays an active role. Readers are essential.

I am indebted to Writer’s Relief for finding me readers. And they leave me with more time to write.

About Peter Obourn

Peter Obourn writes fiction and poetry. He spends half of his writing time working on novels in progress, hoping to find an agent and/or a publisher. He is a graduate of Williams College, Cornell University (LLB) and Lesley University, with an MFA in creative writing. He lives in upstate New York near Rochester and summers on a lake near Old Forge in the Adirondacks. His work is published in many literary journals. His latest story, “Morgan the Plumber,” published in December in the North Dakota Quarterly (NDQ), has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Much of his published work is available on his website peterobourn.com.